Improvement in circular-knitting machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELI TIFFANY, OF BENNINGTON, VERMONT.

IIVlPROVE MENT IN CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 184,483, dated November21, 1876; application filed May 1, 1875.

are separately slid to and fro endwise, in outside longitudinal groovesin a stationary cylinder, by the butts of the needles projectingradially outward into a cam-groove in and around a rotary hollowcylinder immediately surrounding the said fixed needle-cylinder.

One part of this invention consists in the combination of theneedle-cylinder, having its lower portion of larger diameter and withdeeper needle-holding grooves than its upper portion; a divided ring,secured upon the smaller portion of the needle-cylinder, so as to retainthe needles in the grooves thereof, and having an opening between itsends as wide as a needle-groove and made circularly adjustable aroundand upon the needle-cylinder, so as to be capable of releasing any oneof the needles while retaining the others and the cam-cylinder mountedto turn upon the larger portion of the needle-cylinder without turningthe said needle-holding ring, and having the upper side of itscam-groove continuous, so that no needle can be displaced nor drawn outof the needle-cylinder lengthwise of the grooves therein, and one partof the cam-groove being arranged so near to a part of the upper end ofthe cam -cylinder as to there permit any needle, when released by thecircular adjustment of the needleholding ring, to be separately turnedoutward, and thereby withdrawn from the cam-groove and needle-cylinder.

Another part consists in the combination, with the needle-cylinder andthe removable cam cylinder, of a removable guard, having its upper endinserted in a perforation in the needle-cylinder and its lower endextended over the even upper end of the cam-cylinder, and its middlepart secured in a longitudinal groove in the needle cylinder, by meansof the divided circularly-adjustable needle-retaining ring around thecylinder, so that the said guard shall retain the cam-cylinder in itsproper working position on the needle-cylinder in opposition to the pullof the needles in knitting, and can be readily detached, so as to permitthe free endwise movement and removal of the cam-cylinder upon and fromthe needle-cylinder, for convenience in cleaning.

Another part consists in the combination, with the stationary needlecylinder and the rotary needle-reciprocating cam-cylinder surroundingthe needle -cylinder, and having a step or end bearing at its base, ofan elastic friction-ring, secured to and projecting concentricallyaround the said cam-cylinder, and a rotary disk, held with one sideagainst the said elastic ring and mounted on an axis directed to oneside of, or away from, the axis of the cam-cylinder, so that therotation of the said disk shall, by friction, revolve the cam-cylinder,and, at the same time, tend to press the latter downward against its endhearing or step, in opposition to the tendency of the needles inknitting to draw thecamcylinder in the opposite direction.

Another part consists in the combination, with the stationary needlecylinder and the cam-cylinder surrounding the needle-cylinder and havinga concentric grooved pulley fast thereon, of a removable elasticfriction ring in and projecting beyond the groove of the pulley, and arotary disk, bearing at one side against the said projectingfriction-ring, and mounted on ,an adjustable stud or axis, by which thesaid rotary disk can be conveniently adjusted to bear against the saidfrictionring with more or less pressure, according to the variousdegrees of power required to turn the cam-cylinder in knitting, and canbe readily removed or adjusted away from the said pulley andfriction-ring, so that the latter can be freely removed from the pulley,and so as to permit the cam-cylinder to be revolved by a powerdrivenbelt or band running in and around the pulley-groove of thecam-cylinder.

In the aforesaid drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of one side, Fig. 2an elevation of the other side, and Fig. 3 a plan, of a circularknittingmachine which embodies all the aforesaid parts of this invention. Figs.4 and 5 are partial central sectional elevations of the same machine.Fig. 6 is a side elevation, and Fig. 7 is a plan, of the tubular needlecylinder of the same machine; and Fig. 8 is a central section of theneedle-reciprocating camcylinder thereof. Fig. 9 is a plan of thedivided ring for holding the needles in the needle -cylinder. Fig. 16 isa side view of a removable guard for retaining the cam cylinder upon theneedle cylinder; and Fig. 11 is a plan of the removable elasticfriction-ring of the pulley-groove on the camcylinder. Fig. 12 is asection of the upper part of one side of a tubular needle cylinder andcam-cylinder, showing a modification of the first aforesaid part of myinvention. w

Like parts are marked by like letters in the difi'erent figures; and thearrows therein indicate the directions in which the contiguous partsmove.

A is the tubular needle-cylinder, which is fast at one end, in themachine, to a base,-B, and has outside grooves O, in which are the stemsof the latch-needles D, and from which the butts of the needles projectinto the camgroove F, in and around the tubular cylinder E, so that byturning the latter the needles are slid to and fro endwise in thecylinder A, and in respect to the upper end of the latter and to ayarn-guide, G, on the cylinder E, so as to knit a tube when the yarn Mis delivered to the needles by the guide G from a spool, H, carried bythe cam-cylinder.

Figs. 1, 2, and 3 represent the machine in knitting operation, with theknitted tube I drawn off through the cylinder A by a weight, J; and inFig. 2, a cord, K, is introduced and covered as the knitting progresses.

The slotted upper part L of the needle-cylinder, above the cam-cylinderE, is smaller in diameter than the portion within the cam-cyL inder, andhas its outer surface nearly even with the outer sides of the stems ofthe'needles inthe grooves O, and is tightly surrounded by a dividedring, N, Fig. 9, which retains all the sliding needlesin the slots 0when the opening between the ends of the divided ring is opposite to aspace between two slots. The divided ring N can be turned so as to bringthe opening that is between its ends opposite to each of the grooves O;and the radial depth of the grooves 0 within the cylinder E is so great,and the continuous upper side of the highest part of the groove F is sonear to the upper end of the cylinder E, as shown in Fig. 4,or thatcylinder is there so notched on top, as indicated at Z in Fig. 12, thatwhen the highest part of the groove F and the opening between the endsof the divided ring N shall both be temporarily adjusted. opposite toany one of the slots 0, the needle in that slot can then be turnedoutward through the opening in the ring N, and out of the continuousupper part of the cam'groove F, and then removed i'rom the machine, andreinserted therein, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 12, without removingeither the needle-holding ring N or the cam-cylinder E, or any partthereof, and

without having any part of the upper side of or wear of thelatter against the needle-cylinder.

0, Fig. 10, is a removable guard, having its upper part inserted in aperforation, P, Figs. 5 and 6, in the cylinder A, and having its middlepart held in a slot, Q, in that cylinder by the divided ring N, andhaving its lower part extended outward over the even top end of thecam-cylinder E, so as to surely retain the latter upon theneedle-cylinder in opposition to the upward pull of the needles thereonin knitting; and yet so that by turning the ring N, so that the openingbetween its ends shall be opposite to the slot Q, the guard O can thenbe readily removed from the cylinder A, so as to permit the cam-cylinderto be raised upon and removed from the needle-cylinder in cleaning themachine without removing or detaching the said divided needle-holdingring.

S is a friction-ring of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material,which is secured to, and projects concentrically around and from, thecam-cylinder E; and T is a metallic or other suitable disk, having ahandle, W, andmounted to be turned by hand on a stud, V, and with oneside against the friction-ring S,

so that by turning the disk T the cam-cylinder E will be revolved by thefrictional adhesion of the disk T against the ring S. The stud V isarranged so that the line of the axis of rotation of the driving-disk T,indicated by the line to w in Fig. 3, is directed away to one side ofthe axis of the ring S and cylinder E,

in order that, in turning the disk T in the diturn the cam-cylinder E,but shall at the same time press that cylinder down against its endhearing or step Y, Figs. at and, 5, in opposition to the tendency of theneedles in knitting to raise the cylinder E off from its said step orend bearing.

In order that the driving-disk T may be pressed against the elastic ringS with the proper greater or less force, according to the power requiredto properly revolve the cylinder E inknittin g various grades andkindsof yarn and fabrics, and to permit the camcylinder E to beconveniently revolved by power, instead of by hand, whenever that shallbe desirable or necessary, the stud V is made with a screw extendingthrough alug-nut, U, Figs. 1 and 5, fast on the bed B, and with a jam-.nut, X, whereby that stud can. be adjusted so.

as to press the disk T against the elastic ring S with greater or lessforce, and so as to let the disk T be away from the ring S, as indicatedby dotted lines at y in Figs. 3 and 5, or be removed entirely therefromand the ring S is in a grooved pulley, R, on the cylinder E, and can bereadily sprung out of and removed from that pulley when the disk T isaway; and then a driving-band can be passed around the pulley R, asindicated by dotted lines at a: in Fig. 3, and the machine therebydriven by power.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination of the groovedneedlecylinder A, having a part, L, of smaller diam erer than the otherpart, the divided needleholding ring N, secured to and circularlyadjustable upon the smaller part of the needlecylinder, and thecam-cylinder E, mounted to turn on the larger part of theneedle-cylinder Without turning the needle-holding ring, and having theupper side of its cam-groove F continuous and at one point formed andarranged in respect to the end of the cam-cylinder, as described, so asto permit a needle to be turned outward, and thereby withdrawn whenreleased by the adjustment of the divided ring, as described.

2. In combination with the needle-cylinder A, provided with theperforation P and groove Q, and the removable cam-cylinder E, thedetachable guard O, and the divided ring N, the guard having one endpart in the said perforation, and the other end part over the end of thecam-cylinder, and the middle part secured in the said groove by thedivided ring, substantially as described. 3. In combination with thefixed needle-cylinder A and rotary cam-cylinder E, having the elasticfriction-ring S thereon, and the fixed step or end bearing Y, the rotarydriving-disk T, having one side pressed against the said friction-ring,and its axis arranged at one side of the axis of the cam-cylinder,substantially as shown and described.

4. In combination with the fixed needle-cylinder A and rotarycam-cylinder E, having the grooved pulley R thereon, the removableelastic friction-ring S in the groove of the pulley, and the removablerotary driving-disk T, mounted on the adjustable stud V, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand this 28th day of April,1875.

ELI TIFFANY.

Witnesses:

J OHN V. HALL, FRANK W. PooLER.

